As well-known in the art, a cytospin refers to a device by which cells contained in a liquid specimen are concentrated on a limited area of a slide using a centrifugal force. The cells concentrated by the cytospin are directly collected and smeared in a specified position on a slide. In this way, cells to be inspected are collected at one location by the cytospin. By dyeing and observing the cells thus collected, it is possible to clearly see the shape and nature of the cells to be inspected. In particular, the cytospin is effective when a small number of cells are contained in a small amount of liquid specimen. The cytospin is medical equipment which is widely used in the field of cell biology, histology and pathology.
A conventional slide assembly used in the cytospin is illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B. As illustrated, the conventional slide assembly 1 includes a slide 2 positioned at a lower side and a filter card 3 disposed on the upper surface of the slide 2. The filter card 3 is an absorption paper that absorbs a liquid. The filter card 3 has a hole 3a formed through the thickness thereof. The hole 3a cooperates with the slide 2 to form an accommodation space 3b. By the operation of a cytospin, a liquid sprayed toward the slide 2 enters the accommodation space 3b. Cells contained in the liquid adhere to the slide 2. The liquid is absorbed to the filter card 3 as indicated by arrows in FIG. 1B.
However, in the conventional slide assembly described above, some of the cells existing in the accommodation space 3b are absorbed to the filter card 3 together with the liquid. Thus, a loss of cells is generated. Particularly, if the number of cells contained in a specimen is important, the loss of cells may lead to a severe error in determining an inspection result. Due to the loss of cells to be inspected, detection target cells may be excluded and a substantial amount of analysis targets may be missing. This may adversely affect quantitative and qualitative inspection results.